Hallandale Beach Blog - A common sense public policy overview offering a critical perspective on the current events, politics, govt., public policy, sports scene and pop culture of the U.S., South Florida and Europe, especially the UK and Sweden.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Confirming what most of us have long suspected, apparently, some #Broward cities & communities must be divided so that some political careers can manage to stay afloat. For instance, Eleanor Sobel's. Her track record in office is cringe-worthy!; Matt Dixon: Deposition questions partisan emails of redistricting plaintiffs

TALLAHASSEE — During an eight-hour deposition, attorneys grilled a map-drawer for a coalition of plaintiffs challenging the state Senate lines, questioning his process, his personal politics, and emails that indicate the challengers were looking to “draw additional dem seats.”“Try to carve dem districts that honor the statutes,” read a Nov. 21, 2011 email from Brad Wieneke, an employee with a company then called Strategic Telemetry, a Washington-based Democratic consulting firm.

Matt Dixon's excellent article in Politico FLORIDA, above, comes as a great tonic and fact-filled followup to many of the dozens of blog posts I've written in this space over the years regarding the history and tortured culture of Florida's gerrymandered political districts, the efforts by some public interest groups -even ones whose goals for more responsive govt. I ostensibly supported, like Fair Districts- to find a way to bollix things up by acting holier-than-thou.And, predictably, being exposed for being the hypocrites they were all along, even when people like me were asking frank questions of their leaders via emails about seeming inconsistencies and NOT getting anything resembling the sort of reasonable response you'd expect from someone if they were being square with you.Some of you will recall the silence with which my requests for information from the local Broward and Miami-Dade chapters of the League of Women Voters was met, as well as the Florida HQ.Especially in the days and weeks before the Florida Senate had their meetings around the state, which they actually advertised far in advance and provided doucmentation for, unlike LWV. So, that article of Dixon's and my own frustrated history of following this issue leads me to ask this today to you readers:

Why must a small #Broward city like #HallandaleBeach continue to be carved-up year-after-year, election cycle after election cycle, based almost entirely on Black/Jewish voting numbers, so that contrary to common sense and its own best interests, it CAN'T be properly unified?Perhaps, even be represented by 1 person in the #FL state House, 1 person in the FL state Senate, 1 person on the Broward County Commission and 1 person in the U.S. Congress?This effort to keep this community of under 40,000 people here permanently divided, has one practical effect: to prevent it from effectively being able to make its desires and wishes known to candidates in advance of elections in meaningful numbers.Instead, Hallandale Beach is kept sliced and diced for the benefit of pols who need and want only certain kinds of voters. It's the very same reason that residents of the City of Aventura in Miami-Dade County are represented by a Congressional District based in Pembroke Pines in western Broward County, while the people of western Hallandale Beach, who live less than five miles from the Atlantic Ocean, are made part of a CD that is centered just north of downtown Miami and west of 1-95. The reasons for this? #ambition #greed

Question I've never heard asked by a single local South Florida-based reporter the past few years:

Why is state Senator Eleanor Sobel's current #33 District office -located across from Hollywood City Hall and the Hollywood branch of the Broward County Library system- an office that's directly subsidized by City of Hollywood taxpayers, actually NOT located in her own district, but, based on the state's own maps, located within the district of Oscar Braynon II, in the 36th District?

Could it be because a cheapskate with a sense of entitlement like Eleanor Sobel, who, before asking Hollywood taxpayers to pay for it, consciously chose NOT to locate her own district office in one of the many empty storefronts in downtown Hollywood that she could have chosen from, can't afford to be choosy?

But why expect more from someone who, having asked for the handout from Hollywood taxpayers, chose NOT to even appear in-person at the Hollywood City Commision meeting when that very issue was on the agenda, and thus be forced to hear and respond to pointed questions and comments from both the Commission as well as the community?

I wrote about that on my blog when it was actually happening, as opposed to... well everyone else not named Sara Case.Sara and I were alone in South Florida in publicly questioning Sobel's efforts and motives, and chiding her publicly for setting a bad example of the sort that we do NOT need to see more of in these parts, given how very entitled so many pols from this area already are when it comes to public largesse and accommodations. We hardly need any more evidence of that than the caving-in the other day on Broward ethics rules due to Broward Comm. Lois Wexler's desire to be kept nourished at someone else's expense, such as when doing work re Broward's Election Canvassing Board.Yes, God forbid that her her $92k-plus govt. salary prevents her from picking something up at Starbucks or McDonalds or even making a sandwich at home on the way to the meeting like you and me!

Go ahead and give that free bottle of water to local pols. Ethics code watered down https://t.co/ruB49F3sc3 / Britt

Most of us have long since come to the conclusion that Sobel didn't show up for the most obvious reason - she didn't want to.

And specifically, she didn't want to listen to pointed questions about the appropriateness of her request for taxpayer dollars coming from well-informed constituents inquiring about HER curious choice of priorities -again:herself.

And remind me again, now that Eleanor Sobel is running for Mayor of Hollywood, why would anyone in the area who genuinely believes in meaningful financial accountability, responsibility and oversight of government -which she chose to personally prevent when it came time over two years ago to have the JLAC audit and examine the longstanding unethical and incompetent history of the Hallandale Beach CRA and its many inexplicably missing documents- be rewarded for engaging in that behavior year-after-year?

Aren't we entitled to expect better?

All of you who want to be better informed about Sobel's antics while in office the past few years only need avail yourselves of what I've already written -usually with links to what others have written as well- based on my actually being there when things were happening -or weren't- as opposed to the approach taken so often by the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Tell me, what were the most salient facts to come out of Tim Ryan's lawsuit against Eleanor Sobel in 2009 after he and Ken Gottlieb were defeated in a well-funded and unscrupulous campaign of hers that was negative even for this area with little-to-no standards?(I voted for Ryan.)

What statements did Sobel make to the public and the media that were proven to have been self-serving lies?

Guess what, most people in Broward don't know the answer because the two area newspapers and all four English language TV stations stopped sending reporters to cover it all the way thru, as any check of their own archives shows. And I bemoaned this fact to anyone who would listen.

Tell me, when did you ever see a local TV reporter ask Sobel on camera to explain why she tried to prevent JLAC from investigating the City of Hallandale Beach CRA after the Broward IG's damning report about the waste of millions of dollars.

Yet Sobel had no qualms about doing the bidding of her campaign pals at the Broward PBA to have JLAC investigate the City of Hollywood after the voters of the city thoroughly rejected the PBA's arguments and accepted the city's in a referendum about the city's budget, a loss that still rubs the Broward PBA and their more mouthymembers raw to this day? Who wrote about that? Me.

This came about AFTER the Broward PBA broke Hollywood's city's charter laws about campaign finance and disclosure in their attempt too punish officials who didn't let them continue to ride roughshod over the city's budget.

So, where are all the media stories about those stories, or the city taking the Broward PBA to court for violating the rules?

Any reasonably well-informed and observant person who has lived in this part of South Florida knows one thing, and that is that state Senate Districts #33, # 35 and #36, cheek-by-jowl, are intentionally drawn and designed to prevent the sort of harmonious #diversity within the community that the very same #South Florida politicians are always calling for and demanding to see from OTHER people and OTHER groups. (Pols like like Eleanor Sobel.)

Frankly, it's kind of hard NOT to notice it, but our current South Florida news media and political "experts" keep NOT noticing it. Why do you suppose that is?

IF your company, business or firm's Consumer, B-2-B, or Institutional advertisement was already here at #HallandaleBeachBlog, your message would ALREADY be getting seen AND noticed every month by tens of thousands of upscale, well-informed, well-educated consumers, politicians, and business owners, inc. LOTS of high-quality, trusted taste-makers, influencers and members of the news media in South Florida and throughout Florida. And, be SEEN AND NOTICED by South Florida's most-read and influential bloggers and #SocialMedia personalities.
Sophisticated, quality-conscious and keyboard-articulate people whose informed opinions/preferences have a great deal of magnifying power online. Readers of the blog and Followers of my popular Twitter feed who are not just quick to share what they know or think with others via Social Media about news, ideas and their points of view, but who will also share their views with their large audiences about the positive customer/client experiences they have with you. Because nothing succeeds like a quality product or service that comes with quality customer service!
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Owing to my interests and knowledge, there's a good reason that my popular Twitter feed regularly gets tagged by influential Swedish and Scandinavian companies/businesses, and Biz & media personalities -like the Swedish Consulate in New York, which promotes Sweden in trade, investment, cultural and consular affairs- as well as is tagged regularly by South Florida's #1 #RealEstate reporter: RESULTS.
They all know that what they share with me -and what I share with them- gets SEEN AND NOTICED by people whose opinion matters. Brian Bandell of the South Florida Business Journal knows from experience that I not only know what's REALLY going on below-the-radar in the area, but they also know that I can add something new and compelling to the story or idea. Original content that in turn WILL be seen by those very same influencers, pols and businesses and be commented-upon, and becoming part of the ongoing public policy agenda and narrative! Yes, just like your company's ad in this space will not just be seen but NOTICED! For 2018, I'm averaging between 25,000 and 30,000 individual page views a month.#results!

Well, if something is going to be there w/that large a footprint -esp. cars on already #FDOT F-rated #HallandaleBeach Blvd., part of why @Browardinfo nixed an even larger un-related plan there yrs ago- it's a plus that a firm like @SLSHotels, w/v good rep, is running it. ��️����⛳️

���� folk sensation First Aid Kit are playing twice at Brooklyn Steel this week Sept 11-12 �������� The first night is already sold out - but there's still time to secure a spot for their second show. Don't miss out! ��⏳

I'm interested to see what you think. Two developers proposed zero payment for the land. What will the city prioritize, the most money possible from a real estate transaction, or a project that will generate the most economic activity or community benefit?

Jag älskar Stockholm - ST❤️CKHOLM

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, June 2010

My Twitter header currently features my June 2010 screenshot of Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria moments after her wedding in Stockholm. Her smile = amazing, priceless! Should have posted it years ago!

People died at #stonemandouglas b/c school failed to implement a simple security measure that had been recommended twice to teachers & administrators, according to testimony Wednesday. https://t.co/7HFUYC5Z6z

Some BSO deputies couldn’t remember the last time they attended mass-shooter training. Others couldn’t recall what they’d learned when they did attend, investigators reviewing the #stonemandouglas school shooting found. https://t.co/fgqRDM9NlD

MSD Commission member @maxschachter, whose son Alex died at #StonemanDouglas, criticized BSO's command & communication failures. "We had these same command & control problems at the airport [shooting] in 2017. I don’t see why it wasn’t corrected."

Lauren Book said she's heard teachers are afraid to voice complaints due to retribution. "Retribution is something we don't tolerate in district. If people are doing their job, they shouldn't have concerns about that," Runcie said.

What a country of despicable cowards Britain has become. As the eminent @Ayaan so correctly points out, what is the point of an asylum system if the woman most in need of it is denied protection? https://t.co/Tcj1GHkIf3

Yes, as I've said many times to #Broward/#DC friends, despite disagreeing w/him on policy issues. Like great old campaigns signs I've seen -outside of #FL!- Canova is "a voice, not an echo." #DWS is the annoying echo in yr head that U can't get rid of. @Buddynevins@crespogram

Go back in time with the Florida Stories app! Launched by the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, the interactive walking tour app will showcase archival photos, architectural renderings and audio histories for 12 locations. https://t.co/sfVh0fWe6G

Makes me wonder what happens when #Wynwood runs out of "genuine" ambiance/atmosphere and everything there feels even more homogenized and/or focus-grouped-to-death than already often seems case. @BillyCorben

Mikaela, my favorite and the most literary and "Big Thinker" of the 3 fabulous Akerman sisters - Malin, Jennifer & Mikaela- also knows how to make a snapshot just pop off the page! Heja Sverige! And Mikaela still writes her wonderful poems and essays with -yes- a typewriter! She is adorable in every possible way! :-)

1/ As usual, I agree w/@CGreenbarg: "Both the #Broward#Schools Auditor and I brought evidence of fraud by a politically connected firm. Reply? “That’s how Broward Schools does business.“ Only an honest outsider could bring reform to a corrupt county." @Colleen_Wright@smtravis

Want to meet other Nordic (minded) people? Head over to the Nordic After Work Social at Hudson Bar in Hudson NYC on Wednesday Oct 17, 6 PM, hosted by our friends at @NordicHouseNY. Come and bring your friends!

Our super-talented singing pal, Cissi Nilsson, continued to keep it real -with style- while on vacation this summer in #Styrsö, on west coast of #Sweden. :-) I can't wait to see Cissi in-person in #STHLM in early 2019, to make up for my postponed trip to Sweden and Iceland this past January, which I was so looking forward to enjoying, and bringing along my favorite human being so that she could see why I LOVE those two places so very much.

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